James Bell (SN 3172) was a 20 year old clerk from Wendouree Parade Ballarat when he enlisted on March 16th 1915. He had already had training with the Medical Corps so he was allotted to the 6th Field Ambulance. He embarked from Melbourne on June 4th 1915 on the Ajana and served on Gallipoli from September until the evacuation. After time at Mudros, then in Egypt, he was moved to France in March 1916. On April 8th 1917 he had a fall on the duckboards in the trenches, sustained a Pott’s fracture to his right ankle and was evacuated to the Military Hospital at Eastleigh in England. His recovery was slow, then, complications from a bout of influenza further diminished his fitness for active service. In May 1918 he sailed from England on the Gaika, reaching Melbourne on July 5th, and was discharged as ‘medically unfit – debility’ on July 22nd. He died on October 25th 1928 at the age of 32.